


Scared of Flying?

by led_lights



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Airplanes, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Anxiety, Art Museums, Awkwardness, Chicago (City), Drinking, Drinking & Talking, F/M, Fear of Flying, History, Meet-Cute, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-24
Updated: 2018-09-24
Packaged: 2019-07-16 06:16:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16080182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/led_lights/pseuds/led_lights
Summary: Rey gets more than he bargained for when she helps the disasterously nervous man sitting next to her on the flight back to Chicago.





	Scared of Flying?

Rey struggled through the narrow aisle on her flight back to Chicago, apologizing profusely every time she hit a passenger with her ridiculously large carry-on. She was sitting in the very back row, but had at least snagged a window seat. As she finally approached row 36, she awkwardly smushed her bag into the overhead compartment and frowned when she noticed a body in the window seat. 

She coughed. The man turned to her, frowning also, with perturbed dark eyes. 

"Um, I think you're in my seat."

He stared for a moment, then realized what she'd said, and scrambled to his feet, crouching under the low cieling. "I'm so sorry, I'm a bit distracted." He awkwardly climbed into the aisle, almost knocking Rey over as he was ridiculously clumsy. "That's fine." Rey politely smiled and took the seat by the window, opening the shade to full mast from its tightly closed place. She noticed the man frown, but didn't really care. He bent down again into the seat directly next to her, looking hilariously large for the cramped seat. 

Rey eyed him from the corner of her eye while the plane got ready to take off, noticing how his knee wouldn't stop bobbing.

-

"...Ready for take off." The pilot hung up over the intercom and the plane finally started to pick up speed when Rey noticed the shortened breathing of the man next to her. When she looked over, he was tightly gripping the armrest and grimacing, eyes closed. 

"Sir?"

He opened his eyes. 

"Do you want me to get you something? Are you alright?"

"No, I'm just... deathly afraid of flying."

"Okay."

A few minutes passed and after the initial ding of altitude, he turned to her. "Actually, could you close the shade?"

Rey wanted to look out of it, but understood, and shut it quickly. 

"It's only an hour flight. I'm sure we'll be fine." She smiled sympathetically.

"Yeah." He once more looked ahead.

She reached for her purse and pulled out a tiny bottle of tequila. "You want any? I got it at the terminal. It's much cheaper."

"Uh, yeah, actually." He took it in his hand and downed the whole bottle, coughing at the burn. Rey chuckled. 

He smiled at her. "Thank you." He relaxed a tiny bit.

"Yeah, sure. I hate flying too. I mean, I'm perfectly calm right now, but it gives me hell to go through security." She looked him over again, realizing he was probably only a few years older than her. "What were you doing in New York?"

"Visiting my Dad. He moved there a few years ago. I'm glad to come home." He chuckled. "You?"

"I work for the Art Institute as a curator, and I had some meetings with the Met people."

"Oh, that's really cool. I actually only live a few blocks away from there."

Rey's eyes widened. "Really? That's a nice area. I wish I could say the same. What do you do?"

"I'm a high school history teacher, actually, but I play bass in a band, and get extra funds from that."

"So did you major in history?"

"Yeah, UChicago class of '09."

"Beautiful campus."

"Yeah."

"I'm Rey Kenobi." She stuck out her right hand, and he took it. "Ben Solo." He noticed the stewardess push the drink cart and stopped her.

"Sir, I have to come all the way back."

"I know, but could I please get something really quick?"

"Fine."

"Can I get a Rum and Coke, and a," he looked over at her. 

"Oh, no, don't worry about it."

"Please. You've been very kind."

"Okay, uh, a tequila and a sprite."

He slipped the stewardess $30 and thanked her, handing Rey the bottle and the can. 

"You're very kind. Are you feeling better?"

"Yes. I think it's the bottle of alcohol I just drank, but yes," He laughed and smiled a toothy grin. Rey thought his face was quite handsome. 

They poured the drinks into tiny plastic cups and chatted for a while until the captain reminded the plane to fasten their seatbelts for landing. Rey looked over at Ben for a minute to see if he was nervous again, but he was practically drunk at this point, and chattering on. "My students are hilarious. They think they're so cool, but half of them have never even been outside the city. They make fun of my band, but we have so many gigs I literally could care less." 

"So you teach in the suburbs?"

"Yeah. It was easier to be hired out there. Hey, do you ever see those little tiny rooms?"

"At the museum.. where I work?" 

"Yeah!"

"Uh, yeah. They're actually one of my areas. I help decide on decor for Christmas?"

"What?! Those are my favorite. I just wanna go into them. I mean, obviously, I'm a history dork."

"I love them too." She took another sip of her drink when the plane made ground. Ben exhaled. "Phew! That wasn't too bad." He grinned at her like a child. 

"Yeah, it's not so scary when you're drunk."

They waited patiently for the plane to empty and walked in companionable silence to the transportation area. As they stepped out into the cold, Ben turned suddenly to Rey. 

"Are you hungry?"

"Yes." She said forcefully, staring into his eyes.

"Do you want to get dinner?"

She nodded, smiling at this complete stranger. He loudly started to flag down a taxi.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos appreciated!
> 
> Miniature rooms: http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/thorne


End file.
